Can't Let Go
by Nightcrawlerlover
Summary: REPOSTED! Oneshot songfic to Can't Let Go by Mariah Carey. Based on the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, but with a twist. Clare is the beauty who hides behind her red cloak. Jay is the wolf who finds her in the woods. R&R, please, but NO FLAMES!


**Here's a new oneshot I cooked up while listening to "Can't Let Go" by Mariah Carey. It's a great song to listen to while searching for ideas, and I highly recommend it too! **

**I reposted this because of a reviewer who called it "dumb". I couldn't believe it. (To all bashers, if you want to bash or flame, please keep it to yourself.)  
**

**I dedicate this to jayhogartismyangel****, ****degrassiiloveyou****, and ****HELENz****. Here are their reviews on my oneshot called "The Wolf", and my responses:**

**jayhogartismyangel****: (**_**I love Jay's fascination with the wolves! I think, that this definitely fits Jay--especially season four Jay. Interesting story!)**_** Thanks! Glad you like it. I always figured Jay _would _have a fascination with wolves, as he does remind me of one.  
**

**HELENz****: **_**(What an interesting pairing. Isn't he a bit old for her?? I liked it, though. =) ) **_**Thanks! I always liked odd or alternative pairings myself. He is**** a bit old for her, but I don't mind the age difference at all. **

**Degrassiiloveyou****: **_**(weird...i like it!keep writing!-always,jess)**_** I will, and I thank you for your nice review. **

**After all, Jay is a complete mystery, an enigma – even unto himself. And he does remind me of the Big Bad Wolf from the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" by the Brothers Grimm in that way. **

**So I thought I'd try my hand at something like this. After all, I've read that fairy tale so many times, and I like it. So I'd thought I'd write it with a twist. **

**Disclaimer: The geniuses at The N own Degrassi. I own the oneshots and the stories. **

**Can't Let Go**

Clare Edwards sat on her bed, deep in thought. She was wearing a blue-and-white striped dress and black Mary Janes.

"Clare, darling!"

The voice, belonging to her mother, shook her out of her musings.

"Yes, mom?" she called as she went down the stairs. Her mother turned to her.

"Could you please do me a favor?"

"Sure, mom. What is it?" asked Clare. She was a little excited to do favors for her mom these days.

"Could you go out into the woods and pick some blueberries? I'm planning to bake a blueberry pie," explained Clare's mother. "Can't make a blueberry pie without blueberries!"

At the words "blueberry pie", Clare perked up immediately. She loved blueberry pie. It was one of her favorite desserts.

"OK, Mom!" she said. To her, these errands were an adventure these days. She loved going outside, and often getting some fresh air, which reddened her cheeks. It was great exercise too.

"And be careful of the wolves, Dear," cautioned her mother. "After what happened to your sister Darcy, I can't take any chances."

Clare nodded. Darcy had gone out into the woods to pick some red berries she had read about one day, but had never returned. She remembered feeling worried about her older sister, trying not to imagine that maybe _the wolves _had gotten to her...

She then left her mother and headed for the cloakroom. There she let her eyes fall over each cloak – blue, white, red and orange – before finally choosing the red cloak.

She slipped it on, and slung her basket over her shoulder. Calling out a quick goodbye to her mom, she then quickly slipped out the door.

The walk into the woods wasn't too bad, but Clare was starting to feel a little...uneasy. It was as though a pair of eyes were watching her...eyeing her every step.

The eyes of a predator....

Immediately Clare quickened her steps, but not too quickly. After all, she was a believer in taking her time with things. And this was no exception.

_Now you're just imagining things,_ she scolded herself.

To calm herself down and get her heart rate back to its normal rate (as it had jumped a bit), she began to sing to herself...

_There you are holding her hand  
I am lost  
Dying to understand  
Didn't I cherish you right?  
Don't you know you were my life? _

However, her singing was about to be heard....by someone that was very wolflike....

***************

Meanwhile, in the wolves' den, Rick Murray had been drinking from a fallen deer. Jay Hogart was chatting with Jimmy Brooks about their prey and how they were fast.

"Man, I got to tell you, we're pretty cool when it comes to being wolves, huh, Jimmy?" said Rick. His fangs, stained with the deer's blood, flashed in the darkness of the cave. He then cleaned around his mouth and teeth with his red tongue.

Rick was the alpha male of the pack. He often would lure a pretty girl to the cave, and there, strip her of her innocence before drinking her life force until she was dead, and then burying her in the ground of the cave. Often, whenever there weren't any girls around in the woods, he would go after the occasional deer.

_And that Darcy girl...such a great girl in bed. Her blood was delicious, too, _he thought as images of the girl Darcy flew through his mind...

"I agree," said Jimmy. Jimmy was more calculated in his approach with his prey. He would play cat and mouse with them, pretending to set them free before pouncing on them again.

"Me too," said Jay. Jay was the wolf who liked the sounds of a girl's screams as he took her innocence, and then killing her. He couldn't explain why, but he just like the thrill of the kill. Although sometimes, he would play the part of the gentleman, and he played it very well.

Then Rick pricked up his ears, listening to a sound that was unlike any other sounds they had heard previously.

"Shh. Guys, listen!" he hissed at Jay and Jimmy.

"What is it, Rick?" asked Jimmy.

"This sound I'm picking up," replied Rick.

"_What _sound?" asked Jay.

"The sound I just heard," explained Rick. "Did you guys hear it as well?"

Both Jimmy and Jay looked at each other, and then they also pricked up their own ears...

_Even though I try  
I can't let go  
Something in your eyes  
Captured my soul  
And every night I see you in my dreams  
You're all I know  
I can't let go _

"It sounds like... a pretty little girl's voice," said Rick. He then smirked. "I haven't had me a little girl since – well, maybe forever." He thought for a moment. "She sings like a siren too."

"Rick," Jay groaned. One of the things he disliked about Rick was that oftentimes Rick was so....perverted, and always willing to share stories of his conquests.

"Rick, sometimes you're positively indecent," said Jay.

Rick replied smoothly, smirking still,

"I know just what the ladies desire."

"I will go and see who it is," said Jay as he got up and headed out of the cave.

"Good luck!" Jimmy called back.

"Thanks, Jimmy. I'm going to need it," Jay replied, grinning.

*************

_Just cast aside  
You don't even know I'm alive  
You just walk on by  
Don't care to see me cry  
And here I am  
Still holding on  
I can't accept  
My world is gone  
No, no _

_Even though I try  
I can't let go  
Something in your eyes  
Captured my soul  
And every night I see you in my dreams  
You're all I know  
I can't let go _

Clare lay on the grassy edge of a riverbank on her back, her basket, now full to the brim with blueberries, next to her. She felt tired; all that blueberry picking was pretty hard work. She didn't know how she did it; she just knew.

For now, she was content to take a rest, and simply just relax.

After an hour had passed, she then got up and began walking up the path out of the woods.

"Hello, my dear," said a voice.

Clare stopped. That voice. Apparently she sensed it was one of those wolves that her mother feared so much.

She couldn't find the words to explain why. She just knew.

Slowly she turned around, and there _he _stood...

"Um, hi," she said, unable to think of anything else.

Jay smiled. "Where might you be going, my darling?"

Clare summoned up her courage to reply,

"Well, I've just finished picking blueberries for my mom, as she's going to make my favorite dessert – blueberry pie."

"Hmm," said Jay. He then sniffed the air, and grinned as the scent of blueberries entered his nose. He looked down, and saw blueberry stains on the fingers of her left hand, and then shifted his gaze to her basket, also filled with blueberries. _She must've been picking them all day. That probably explains why her fingers are stained with blueberry juice, _he thought.

"Hold it," he said as Clare turned to go. He then reached over and pulled her to him. Raising her fingers to his lips, he then used his tongue to clean the blueish stains off of them. The taste – sweet and almost like a honey sandwich with a little sugar added – drove him wild.

"Oh, I knew I forgot my fingers were stained," remarked Clare. "Thanks, uh, kind sir."

"Please," said Jay, feeling his gentlemanly instincts kick into overdrive, "call me Jay." He then bowed from the waist, and then placed a kiss on the back of her hand. He then said, after releasing her hand,

"And such beauty."

"I'm Clare," she replied. "Clare Edwards."

Suddenly she remembered her mother, and immediately told Jay. Luckily, he nodded.

"Goodbye, Clare," he said, a tone of sadness in his voice, "but could you do me a favor, please?"

"Sure," she nodded.

"Save me a piece of blueberry pie, please? It sounds really delicious," he smiled. "I haven't had a piece of that in what seems like ages."

She grinned in return. "I will."

As they parted ways, Clare felt strangely happy to find out that one of the wolves was so nice.

Jay felt the same way. For some strange reason, he liked Clare, and decided to let her go. Even Rick and Jimmy understood. They too often had the same thing happen to them.

Clare kept her promise and saved a piece of blueberry pie for Jay. He liked it...a lot.

**Well, hope you liked it! I worked really hard on it. (No flames, please!)  
**

**~Nightcrawlerlover  
**


End file.
